Kalep now leads the International Relations Office and has done for several years now; confirming what top students already know - that a business university with accreditation is more appealing to launch their careers whilst completing their studies amongst practitioners and lecturers famed for their global reach. Kalep explains that in the world of business universities, three types of accreditation are sought after more than others: AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. The issuer of the accreditation, EPAS, is the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), a non-profit organisation with 900 members from the academic, business, public and consultation sectors of 91 countries dedicated to developing business and management education.
The EPAS accreditation is awarded to business and management programmes characterised by significant international reach and high quality studies. 113 programmes from 82 educational institutions have been awarded the EPAS accreditation. Among more than 60 partner universities to EBS, 20 have the triple accreditation, and EBS students have always strived to improve themselves at these universities during their semester abroad. “The EPAS accreditation awarded to our International Business Administration study programme in English was only the beginning,” Kalep explains, “but it improved our standing with several of our most outstanding partner universities as soon as EBS received the award.”
Kalep adds that at first, several universities only accepted EBS bachelor’s students; however, now master’s students have also been accepted to spend their exchange semester abroad.
According to Romain Bartolo, Senior Regional Manager for Europe & North America with SolBridge International School of Business, South Korea; EPAS accreditation is paramount when selecting partner institutions: “When searching for new partner institutions, international accreditations are meaningful indicators of a school’s academic excellence and overall reputation. EPAS accreditation is an important milestone for the international development of a business school and provides a legitimate degree of quality assurance. This seal of approval and international recognition further confirmed our ambition to cooperate with the Estonian Business School. As a Korean higher education institution, we have since 2016 enjoyed a dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship with Estonia’s leading business school, and developed numerous projects having a positive impact on students, staff and faculty. We look forward to many more years of cooperation with EBS.”
Kalep further adds that as a result of the accreditation awarded to the school in summer 2016, EBS gained several new partner universities, including:
- Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria in Canada
- Montpellier Business School in France
- WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany
- LUISS – Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli
Click here for further information on the affirmation of the EPAS accreditation.
